Month: October 2018

If more money won’t guarantee an accepted offer, what will?

Every home seller wants something so they can be somewhere by some date.  Knowing what they want most is the key to getting your offer accepted.

More money is likely a want of every owner.  Less stress is near the top of a person’s wants.  Stress is related to risk and perceived consequences.  Fear and worry are relatives of stress. We are safe to assume eliminating fear and worry about undesirable consequences will be recognized and valuable to a home seller.

Every REALTOR should have at least ten good ideas for you to consider, to present you and your offer more risk free, safe, and sound for the seller.

The ideas we have for you are simple to understand. You can think of a few by simply switching your perspective to the view from the Seller’s side of the table. If you were her, what would you want to see in an offer?  Before committing to be represented by a Buyer Agent, find out what smart strategies the agent has to give you an edge in a competitive market. If the first and last idea is more money, they have no idea.

When Not in a Hurry ends

Traveling from here to anywhere there is a time when I’m not in a hurry. No rush to get there. I’ve got time.  Somewhere between then and now my time ran out and I’m under pressure. I’m stressed. I’m in a hurry. This is not a good feeling, and may not be the time to make a big commitment. Yet, we do. Often.

Not in a hurry feels good. Hope is on my side. Time is on my side. It’s sunshine and happiness. I might even waste some time when I’m not in a hurry. (January is never in a hurry. July can’t wait to get to August. )  There is a point when time turns against me but I won’t know that time until it’s already here. I’ll know it’s here by the stress I feel.

As a REALTOR I meet a lot of people who are like me when it comes to being in a hurry. A typical party in a real estate transaction is not in a hurry to sell or buy. Not today. Decisions made when not in a hurry are most likely to let you remain unhurried. This is fine until it’s not. We don’t go from “not in a hurry” to “in a hurry”. We go to stressed. Under pressure. Fearful. Our commitment to get somewhere is overshadowed by our desire to get out from under the pressure and end the fear.

When we think we are not in a hurry, and we’re feeling really good about our position, we might keep in mind that the feeling really good feeling vanishes when not in a hurry ends.  If in a hurry felt as good as not in a hurry that would be cool. It doesn’t. There is value in contemplating the consequences, implications, and other side of happiness when given a choice in the beginning.

Ask WHY

Maybe July 2019, maybe not, we will see the new WB 11 Residential Offer to Purchase replace the version we’ve used since 2011.  We know for sure it will be bigger than the present nine page document. Better? We can hope.

As time goes by and workarounds become common practice, firms create contingencies on  their own addenda to counter the efforts of the miscreant.  And then it gets interesting. One firm after another sees something you wrote as useful, copies  it, or modifies it and makes the condition their own. By the time the  condition has spread through the community of REALTORS multiple versions of the original idea are incorporated into addenda. What looks like another firm’s contingency rarely is exactly alike.  The slightest word, “shall or may” for example, will significantly change the power of a contingency in favor of one party.

Eventually the WRA and REEB sit down to modify the WB to comply with current law, and common practice. It seems like every idea ever created to prevent the least common occurrence gets to audition for a place in the new Offer. Not all  get accepted but enough do that the document that went in comes out much fatter. Why the document doesn’t come out smaller is because users won’t let go of what they know. Regardless of its uncommon use (Seller right to provide financing when financing denied) wordy terms take up space in 100% of the Offers so that it will be there the .01% of the time it’s used.  Asking “WHY is this or that contingency necessary?” would result in the WB coming in at no more pages than the one we have and probably even smaller.

The analytics exist to know if contingencies we need are being left out to allow contingencies we don’t use to live on.  Before the next WB goes into use, it might be worth having it analyzed. And if the old shoes don’t get used, we could toss them for good.